Clearing Defunct Holds
You must clear defunct holds to keep held items circulating among your library's patrons. Clearing defunct holds generates a report that you can use to remove defunct holds from your library's holdshelf. Items removed from the holdshelf can then be reshelved, returned to their owning location, or used to satisfy holds for other patrons. Innovative recommends that you clear defunct holds once per day.
When you clear defunct holds, Sierra:
- Removes the defunct holds from the associated patron and item records.
- Adds a manual charge to each eligible patron record for each unclaimed hold, if the Charge Patrons for Unclaimed Holds feature is enabled. Note that the system does not charge patrons for other types of defunct holds.
- Queues a hold cancellation notice for expired holds (holds cancelled because their Not Wanted After date passed before the item was placed on the holdshelf).
- Moves each hold to the next patron in the hold queue, if there is one. For more information, see How Sierra Determines Whether an Item Satisfies a Hold and How Sierra Determines the Order in Which to Fill Holds.
To view the list of defunct holds without automatically clearing the holds, see Viewing Defunct Holds.
To clear defunct holds:
- Select Clear Expired Holds and Holdshelf from the Function list.
- Specify the type of defunct holds you want to clear. To do so, select one of the following in the Holds pane:
- Expired holds and holdshelf
- Clears all defunct holds.
- Expired holds
- Clears only holds for which the Not Wanted After date on the hold has passed. Note that these holds do not include in-transit held items with an expired Not Wanted After date, which are automatically cleared the next time the item is checked in.
- Holdshelf
- Clears only items on the holdshelf that are cancelled or unclaimed (that is, the hold has remained on the holdshelf past its Pick Up By date).
- Specify the pickup location(s) of the defunct holds you want to clear. To do so, select one of the following in the Location pane:
- <Your library's pickup location>
- Clears defunct holds at pickup locations that are part of your library's Locations Served. This option displays if your login has an associated Locations Served value.
- All locations
- Clears defunct holds at all locations.
- Select location
- Clears holds for a specific location from the Branches table. This option requires you to choose a location from the Select Location drop-down list.
Limit Access to Clear Holds Feature
The Limit Access to Clear Holds feature enables staff to select only the following options when clearing the holdshelf:
- the Expired holds and holdshelf option (staff cannot select only expired holds or only the holdshelf)
- the location associated with their current login (staff cannot select all locations or specify another location)
To have the Limit Access to Clear Holds feature enabled, contact Innovative.
- Click Clear. The system:
- Clears the holds.
- Displays the Cleared Holds Summary Report.
- Disables the Clear button to prevent the cleared holds report from being deleted before it is printed.
- (Optional) View details about any of the cleared holds.
- Choose the Print icon to print the Cleared Holds Detail Report.
The system does not retain the list of cleared holds after you close the report. The printed report is your only complete record of the cleared holds.
- Close the report. The system does the following:
- If you have not yet printed the Cleared Holds Detail Report, the system prompts you to print it.
- If you have printed the Cleared Holds Detail Report, the system:
- Removes the Cleared Holds Summary Report from the screen.
- Restores the Clear button.
- Restores the default selections for the hold type and location.
- If the Cleared Holds Detail Report indicated that any defunct holds did not clear, wait at least five minutes and then attempt to clear the defunct holds that remain.
- Follow the instructions in the Cleared Holds Detail Report to remove items with defunct holds from your holdshelf and send them to their next destination.
After all holds of one type and location are cleared, the Clear and View buttons do not display defunct items for that hold type and location until more holds become defunct.